


Cry Baby

by dontmindme_imafangirl



Series: Who said flowers can't bloom in space? [9]
Category: Voltron: Legendary Defender
Genre: (no one dies dw i would never b able to write that, 4 + 1 times of stuff happening, Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, Angst, Crying, Emotional Hurt/Comfort, Established Relationship, Fluff, Fluff and Angst, Hunk & Lance (Voltron) Friendship, Hurt/Comfort, Injury Recovery, Keith (Voltron) is Bad at Feelings, Keith/Lance (Voltron) Angst, Lance (Voltron) Angst, Lance (Voltron) is a Mess, M/M, Minor Violence, a lOT of tears involved in this fic
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-06-03
Updated: 2017-06-03
Packaged: 2018-11-08 08:44:59
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 4,340
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/11078076
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/dontmindme_imafangirl/pseuds/dontmindme_imafangirl
Summary: Lance, to everyone's disbelief, is not a loud, ugly crier.Living in a family of many, he's become used to hiding his tears, learnt to turn sobs into soft huffs, mastered the art of hiding.He hasn't however, learnt how to not cry entirely.Not like Keith did.(Or: 4 times Keith caught Lance crying, and the one time Keith cried)





	Cry Baby

1.

 

The time after a mission was always a mixture of joy and stress. There’d be the rush, adrenaline pumping through their blood unyielding and pulsing radiantly, taking it’s time before it disappeared, leaving them all into different states of tiredness.

He was talking to Hunk at the time, heading out of the hangar and into the common room for a briefing and instructions of what to do next.

It was a successful mission.  
The planet was freed from Galras, the locals had fought vigilantly by Voltron’s side, not minding putting their lives on the line if it came to rescuing their home planet, eventually destroying the Galras fleet after a blood-soaked fight.

They had won, lived to see another day.

Hunk had been laughing, nodding along something Lance had said, was mid-way through saying something back before he stopped, furrowing his eyebrows and staring at his friend in evident concern.

“…Lance?”

He hummed a response, wondering where this shift of expression had come from.

“Lance, are you okay?”

Lance cocked his head. He was fine, wasn’t he?  
They fought, successfully liberated another planet, his team was unscathed save for a few bruises and sore muscles.

Everything was fine.  
So why did his eyes sting so much?

Through his tight-lipped smile came a soft broken sob. He hadn’t even realised when he’d started crying, not before his smile felt impossible to hold in place, giving way for quivering lips and clenching of teeth.

It was a successful mission.  
He just wished they didn’t have to see so much blood ever again.

He was wrapped into a tight embrace by Hunk in an instance, the bigger boy shielding him from the eyes of the other paladins in hopes of letting his friend vent his frustration.

With his face hidden into Hunk’s neck, he never noticed Keith standing across the room with his arms folded, looking at the two with a somber look.

 

*******

 

2.

Keith needed a sparring partner.

Fighting bots could only get him so far, and every other excercise required team effort, something his team would probably be more than unwilling to undergo, not when Allura had, for once, given them a day to simply rest.

Shiro had been helping Coran out all day along with Pidge, trying to salvage the Castle from its latest damage, fixing what can be fixed and whatnot. Hunk had instantly taken to the kitchen, refusing to let his free time go to waste when there were brand new ingredients in their cupboards from the latest re-stocking from a planet whose resemblance to Earth had been too close for comfort.

So that left Keith with Lance, the only person he’d assumed would be available for a sparring session or two.

He asked Pidge if she’d seen the Blue Paladin, the girl in question directing him to Lance’s room with a quirk of her eyebrow that Keith refused to acknowledge.  
Apparently Lance hadn’t been out all day, other than a quick trip to the kitchen that morning to say hi to Hunk and ask if he needed any help.

He came to a halt outside of Lance’s door, bracing himself with a sigh. The last thing he wanted to deal with was another one of Lance’s tantrums, a long chain of ‘No, no training, it’s a rest day’ and even worse, getting dragged along to Lance’s shenanigans once again and ending up with weird smelling masks on his face and eyeliner that rivalled Shiro’s on his eyelids.

A short curt knock onto Lance’s door brought forth no reply.  
Keith clicked his tongue and tried again, figuring the boy probably had his headphones on and didn’t hear him the first time.

After a while and a few loud knocks accompanying Lance’s name that Keith yelled through the closed door, worry started gnawing in his gut.  
Last anyone saw Lance was this _morning_ , and it was now let evening, night almost. 

With instinct winning over logic, he gingerly pushed Lance’s door open, greeted by near darkness into Lance’s room, save from the little light flooding through the opening of the door and the soft blue glow of the small safety lights over his bedpost.

The first look around offered no sight of Lance, until his eyes accommodated to the darkness and a shilloutete curled into itself surfaced in the corner of the room.

He took a step forward, whispering Lance’s name.

“…Lance? Are you..uh, are you okay?”

The silence irked him to no end-Lance was supposed to be _loud_ , a cheerful flirt with no filter. This whole situation was unsettling, to say the least.

The soft huff of air from the boy rushed him by his side and kneeled by him, now fully noticing how Lance’s shoulders shivered with each shaky breath, his head hidden into his knees.

“Lance..? Talk to me. Are you okay?”

At the sound of his name Lance turned to him, letting Keith’s settled eyes take in his state; Lance’s eyes were filled to the brim with tears, breath jagged and uneven as he tried to make himself as quiet as he could.

Keith brought a hand to awkwardly rest over Lance’s knee, and as if on cue, Lance let out a soft sob, barely heard in the stillness of the room, before draping himself onto Keith, hiding himself onto Keith’s shoulder and bringing his hands to clench onto Keith’s back.

He stilled at the sudden display, before awkwardly patting Lance’s shoulder and just letting the paladin cry onto his shirt.

“I miss them Keith”, he whispered between quiet sobs, cries that would go completely unnoticed had it not been for the shaking of his body with each one, the trembling pulsating onto Keith. “I miss them.”

Keith said nothing. There _was_ nothing he could say.

He’d always thought Lance would be an ugly crier, loud and dramatic and over-the-top.  
This quiet Lance was new, vulnerable, and Keith could only hold him tighter and shut his eyes, thinking of clear blue and bright smiles. 

He wanted to see more of that smile.

********

3.

 

Keith was the first to confess.

It wasn’t anything planned, not a coherent thought even; he realised that his feelings towards the blue paladin kept accumulating, shifting and changing and taking on a different form than his feelings towards anyone else from their group; this feeling was soft, delicate, and new.

It took him some time to realise it’s love.

So no, it was nothing planned, nothing planned at all. He’d been watching some odd Altean film in the projection room with Lance, trying to ward off boredom until they reached the most recent planet that had sent a distress signal their way, knowing it’d take ‘about 4 Vargas, or so Coran had informed them. They’d yet to find the Earth equivalent of any of the times Coran and Allura mentioned in briefings.

The Altean movie was…interesting.  
There were no sounds or actors, really; a lot of shots of nature, with an audio of some person talking in what they’d presumed was Altean, occasionally stopping to let sound effects play out.

Lance laughed at each one, the sound effects making less and less sense to them. 

“Altean documentaries my ass,” Lance snorted, shuffling in his seat besides Keith, “This is a good quality meme storm!”

Keith rolled his eyes, a fond thought hitting him without permission at the sight of Lance’s grin and baby blues.

_How did I fall in love with this guy._

He took in a shaky breath and looked to Lance, the taller boy still rambling on about their choice of film and something about a ‘Pepe’ or something along those lines-Keith realised he could barely understand anything of what Lance was saying at the moment.

Still, the bright toothy grin Lance gave him, the way he moved his hands as he spoke, tilting his head to look to Keith with bright eyes, it made the words slip out like sigh;

“I love you.”

Lance stilled, and for a moment, Keith’s heart stilled with him; they had been getting along better than they ever did, getting closer each and every day, and if those three words were enough to break this familiarity, then Keith didn’t know what he’d do.

He saw Lance’s lips parting ,eyes widening before he hid himself into the sleeves of his jacket-a small tic he’d do when stressed or nervous, Keith noted.

The soft groan startled him, muffled from the fabric of Lance’s jacket.

“Uh, Lance? Please say something back if you-“

“Really?”

Keith shifted, turning to fully face Lance even if the boy in question was only further curling into himself.

“Really? Did you say that for real or were you just, just messing around?”

The room felt hotter and colder at the same time. Was it Keith’s own heartbeat that made that pumping noise in his ears? He certainly hoped not. That didn’t sound like a healthy heartbeat.

“Yes, really. I-I love you.”

He heard Lance huff, back arching and sleeves finally leaving his face.

He turned to look at Keith, letting him fully take in the pool of tears sliding down his face, trailing marks onto a small shy smile, so unbefitting yet endearing at the same time.

“Lance?” he questioned, his mind already preparing him for the worst. “Look, I’m sorry for throwing such a big confession onto you okay? If you want some time to think it through or whatever-“ 

He made to leave before a hand gripped his wrist, gently tugging him back. 

“No! No, no need. I’m-I uh, I love you too.”

Keith stilled.  
Yeah, that was definitely his heartbeat he was hearing, his whole face burning with heat, probably sporting the biggest flustered pout he could master.

“You..love me back?”

Lance nodded, face still stained with fresh tears.

“So we love each other. Romantically.”

Lance snorted but nodded again, tugging again to Keith’s wrist to bring the boy to sit beside him. Keith complied, his legs shaky as he sat.

“Does this make us boyfriends?”

“You’re the one that confessed first, so you tell me.” Lance laughed, bringing his hand down from Keith’s wrist to interlace their fingers.  
Keith reciprocated the touch with a squeeze of Lance’s hand, studying the boy’s face and shaky smile all the while.

“I’d like that. To be bo-boyfriends. If you’d like it too.”

Lance nodded, shutting his eyes and biting his lips at that, as if it’d stop him from crying.

“I’d like that too. I’d really, really, really like that a bunch.”

He opened his eyes again and through the tears, through the haze and thick lashes, Keith could see that gleam, that same bright spark that lit this flame in the first place.

He vowed right then and there, to let this be the first and last time he was the cause of that spark being littered with teardrops.

Keith leaned in and kissed each of Lance’s eyelids, relishing in the ginger laugh falling from the boy’s lips.

He was the cause of that laugh.  
He only hoped he’d never stop hearing it.

*********

4.

 

They both knew a relationship had its ups and downs.  
They both knew fighting was inevitable, especially with headstrong personalities like theirs.

What neither of them seemed to know was when to call it quits. When enough was enough.

It started over something mundane, an annoyed argument that was more irrelevant and common than anything.

Be it the stress of their latest missions, the ever-looming and rapidly increasing threat of the Galra, or just their own overall tiredness, one way or another they let it escalate, their fight reaching a climax neither of them expected.

There was a harsh exchange of insults and bitter words exchanged from both of them. Even Shiro tried to come in as a mediator between the two, trying to show them both reason, but at that moment, all either of them could see was their own anger and hurt, throwing out harsh words they both _knew_ the other didn’t mean.

The last straw, eventually, came from Keith.  
It was just another fight, just another insult, nothing he’d never already said a million times before, yet that seemed to snap something within Lance, something worse than being called ‘cargo pilot’ or ‘a loud flirt’.

He’d only called him something along the lines of ‘obnoxious’, or maybe something else entrely-Keith could honestly not remember, not in the heat of the moment, not when he had to face the consequences right the next moment.

There was a pause after his last comment, both men staring at each other, evaluating the damage caused; in a second, Keith realised the damage was a notch too far this time, an unbound pain hurling through him at the site of Lance.

Lance stilled, his eyes filling despite himself, his teeth finding his lip and biting hard enough to draw blood in an attempt to keep himself from crying, from admitting defeat.

Keith’s heart sank- _he_ was the cause of that expression. He was the reason for those tears, for the slow backwards steps Lance took, refusing to pry his eyes away from Keith.

With a hesitant gait he moved towards Lance, extending a hand with a soft apology, but the damage had been done-Lance shook his head ‘no’ and turned quick on his heel, leaving the room with silent steps, not before saying the one thing that could further kick Keith’s insides into a bloody pulp.

“Do you even _feel_ anything?” he said before leaving, Keith’s complexion paling as his eyes widened.

_”Do you even feel anything?”_

He brought a hand to his cheeks.  
They were dry.

******

+1

 

It’s a surprise attack.

They were hit, brutally so, the Castle taking far more damage then it could possibly handle, enough to break all and any security systems, tarnishing its wormhole generator.

Their Lions remained locked in their hangars, their weapons practically useless against such a massive Galra fleet, fighting against each one that came into the Castle and feeling the exhaustion in their muscles as their movements became slowly slugger and weakened.

 _This is it_ , Keith thought, _This is the end._

He didn’t wish for much, never regretted anything particular in his life.

He’d just wished he’d made up with Lance before dying.

A Galra soldier marched his way, the pain through his arms far too much for him to pull his sword up in time and fight back the eminent blow that was to come.

He wished he’d have a bit more time. Just enough to say a quick ‘I’m sorry’, to hear the same apology and soft ‘I love you’ from his boyfriend’s lips.

His name called from a familiar voice was the last thing he’d heard before the world went dark.

*****

He blinked his eyes wearily, noticing the distant sound of a door shuffling open. 

_The CryoPods_ his mind offered and he tried to nod, finding his head was still too stiff from the cold in order to do so. 

He tried taking a step forward, but his legs were limp and pliant, and he ended up falling forward and landing into a warm embrace, arms holding him in place and nails digging into his back.

He looked up to meet a familiar darkness, a pair of black eyes and dark hair greeting him, a scent he’d been so accustomed to that he could only breathe in and nuzzle into, ignoring the sharp intake of breath above him.

“I’m sorry”, he mumbled into the fabric of the soothing red jacket, “I’m so, so sorry. I love you.”

There was no reply, or if there was, he never got to hear it, because darkness fell over him again, this time in the form of a deep slumber.

****  
When Lance work up again, he was greeted by the relieved faces of his whole team, along with questions of how he felt- _”Peachy”, he replied,_ , if anything hurt, what he’d remembered-that one question caught his eye and he asked everyone to fill him in on what he’d missed.

Apparently he noticed a Galra heading straight for Keith with a knife during their fight, and marched in-between them, taking the nearly lethal blow himself.

That prompted everyone into a frenzy, trying to both protect their injured friend and ward off the Galras that kept invading the Castle like flies.

By a pure stroke of luck, Coran managed to re-activate the Castle’s systems and defences, leaving Pidge to work the Cryopods back into working immediately, and Keith to carry the now unconscious Lance into the Cryopods-Shiro and Hunk took to their Lions until Pidge and Keith followed them, fighting a long draining battle with the Galra fleet, even harder when unable to form Voltron and lacking one Paladin.

They managed to inflict as much damage as possible, and the remaining Galra promptly retreated, knowing the small remaining number would do little damage if any at all.

They then fixed the wormhole system, zapping them into the other end of the galaxy and giving them some much-needed time to slowly start whacking the Castle back into shape.

“Wait, this is-that’s a _lot_ of stuff happening. How long was I out?” he wondered out loud, sitting up on his bed and looking to the other Paladins, Allura sitting beside him at the edge of the bed whilst Coran fiddled with a machine that showed his vitals.

“Nearly 7 Vargas! That’s-a ‘week’ in human terms, wasn’t it?” Coran mumbled, turning to the Paladins for confirmation.

“A week-holy shi-“ he gulped and stopped at the stern expression Shiro gave him.

He took his time looking around the room. Hunk had nearly choked him with the bruising-tight embrace he had given him, now standing by his side with a worried expression Lance knew too well-it was the one that said ‘My friend is an idiot and I wish he’d take care of himself’.

Pidge tried acting like she didn’t care much, but he knew her concern was showed in other ways-like her long rant on how she’d altered the cryopod to regenerate the progenitor cells around his wound faster, or how she had taken the weapon that hurt him into the Castle’s lab to check for any potential hints of poison. He had laughed and ruffled her hair, but thanked her all the same for her concern.

Even Shiro had chastised him about his recklessness, not before leaning close and whispering ‘I know you did it to protect Keith, and it’s a good thing you did. You’re brave Lance, but you should take care of yourself more.’

He turned to the Red Paladin at that, heart clenching in his chest-Keith was there, of course he was, but standing at a distance, arms folded over his chest and eyes fixated to the ground. 

Lance knew they loved each other. He knew that no matter what they said, no matter what they did, they would always rush in to save one another, they’d always care for each other in the most profound way.

But he was the one that inflicted the most damage in their last fight, a fight that remained unresolved even before the surprise Galra attack, and he wondered if there was a way to fix things, before it was too late once again and he’d lose the person he cherished like sand slipping through fingers.

He wasn’t sure if Allura took notice of his train of thoughts or not, but she patted his hand and got up, turning to the other paladins.

“We should let Lance get some rest now, and preferably get some rest ourselves as well.”

The others nodded in agreement, slowly shuffling out of the room after bidding their goodbyes to Lance.

Keith turned and was nearly out the door before Lance called his name out.

“Keith! Wait-can we talk? Please?”

He wasn’t sure if it was the pleading tone or the fact that he was still bed-ridden and croaked that made Keith halt, but the boy slowly turned, letting everyone leave the room before sitting by Lance’s bed, situating himself at the far edge of the bed, hands resting between his knees and gaze still not meeting Lance’s.

Lance gulped but grounded himself, knowing he had to be the one to start this conversation.

“Keith I-I’m sorry.”

“What about?”

The dark-haired boy still refused to meet his gaze, even if his own neck bobbed with uncontained emotion.

“For everything, really. For worrying you, and for uh, making you all worry-okay yeah that’s the same thing” he sighed, bringing a hand through his hair. 

“I’m sorry for what I said. For out fight.”

Keith flinched but remained silent, letting Lance carry on.

“I asked you if you feel anything at all, and it was…it was kind of an asshole question from me. Of course you feel things, and I didn’t mean to doubt your feelings, not at all. It was a dick move and I’m sorry.”

“I love you”, he added after a moment, Keith still silent as a log and eyes fixed onto any other place than Lance’s way.

A heavy moment of silence rolled around before Keith’s arms met Lance’s back, all but scuffling into Lance’s lap and clinging dangerously tight onto him, hiding his face into the crook of his neck and breathing in.

“I thought I _lost you_. I thought you were _dead_ and that I’d never get to ever do this again, that you’d die without us ever resolving things and saying ‘I love you’ again and-“

Keith choked, warmth of hot tears burning Lance’s neck, loud croaked sobs escaping his boyfriends’ lips.

“I’m sorry too. I don’t want us to fight again even if-even if we’re both stubborn assholes and-“

Keith lost his train of words soon after, settling for just quaking like a leaf in Lance’s arms, gross loud tears filling the silence in the room, tears never-ending and trailing onto Lance’s shirt.

Keith was crying.  
Loud, heavy, heart-wrenchingly _crying_. 

It was the first time Lance had ever seen him do that, momentarily stunning him before he took a hold of him, rubbing soothing circles onto Keith’s back, running a hand through his dark hair and rocking them back and forth gently whilst whispering reassurances to him, promising that he was right there, that he’d never leave him alone, not again, not ever.

It took some time, longer than either boy expected, until Keith’s tears turned to small groans and then into nothingness, the tiredness hitting him like a wave soon after.

Lance gently tugged him away from his shoulder, cupping Keith’s face into his hands and grinning at the sight.

Keith’s eyes were red, his eyelids blotchy and snot and tears running down his face, lips scowling into a pout that was so _Keith-like_ Lance couldn’t help but laugh, bringing a thumb to wipe away the now-dried tear streaks on his cheeks.

“You cried.” he stated, lavishing in the way Keith snorted and rolled his eyes, a small habit he’d picked up from the time spent with Lance.

“I know, I noticed.”

“Yeah but you never cried before.”

Keith hummed at that, looking down before meeting Lance’s gaze, his hands coming up to lock onto the ones on his cheeks.

“I never…I just didn’t really know _how_. It just all surged out at once and-“ he shrugged, “and this is the result, I guess.”

Lance thought back to all the hardships they’d been through, all the ups and downs that came with being a Paladin of Voltron.  
Not once, he realised, had he seen Keith cry, or break down, not in front of others at least.

He wondered if his tears just now were just out of worry and hurt over this situation.

He wondered if Keith had cried for all the other times he couldn’t cry, for all the mishaps and pain and sheer emotion he had felt throughout this life, over-whelming and difficult but unsure _how_ to handle it.

He took a look at Keith’s reddened eyes and vowed to protect this boy through anything and everything.

“How do you feel right now?” he asked him, knocking their foreheads together softly before meeting Keith’s eye.

Keith took a moment before answering.

“Relieved.”

“Good”, he smiled, tugging the sluggish boy down to settle into bed with him, Keith’s hands refusing to leave Lance.

“For your information though-you’re one ugly crier Keith Kogane.”

Keith flicked his nose and snorted, scuffling closer and nestling onto Lance’s chest, bringing his ear directly over Lance’s heart-proving that he was right there, that he was _alive_.

“Ow,”, he mocked, wincing at his reddened nose, “but really, you are an ugly crier. You should let out your emotions more though. Can’t bottle everything up always you know? Or it’s gonna come back and bite you in the ass one day.”

“Are you telling me to become a cry-baby, Lance?”

Lance shrugged, the movement shuffling Keith from his comfortable position.

“Not really? I’m just saying. If you feel something just…let it out. Don’t keep your emotions locked away, not again. Okay?”

Keith hummed in agreement. “Okay.”

He was certain the boy fell asleep, noticing the even rise and fall of Keith’s back, how the fist on his shirt loosened slowly.

“Lance?” he mumbled, evidently on the brink of dozing off.

“Hm?”

“Love you.”

He sighed, soft smile forming despite himself.

“Love you too mullet.”

“Ha” Keith mumbled, “did it. No bottling up.” he mustered, and Lance was sure Keith fell asleep right after, if the small snore that escaped him was anything to go by.

“No bottling up.” he replied, letting his own eyes drift to a close.

No bottling up. That would be the new founding rule of their relationship.  
He made a mental note to tell that to Keith again in the morning, deciding to let sleep take him soon after, even if he’d rather stay up and hold the boy in his arms as close as he possibly could.

He’d have an entire lifetime to do that starting tomorrow. 

****

**Author's Note:**

> I...I said i'd write a quick thing before bed and sleep and 
> 
> it's 4.30am
> 
> there is sUN OUTSIDE  
> I DON'T KNOW WHAT WNET WRONG I'm never drinking this much coffee again ever ahhh
> 
> sorry for any typos, ill come back and edit everything at a later time <3 hope you like this either way  
> i really think if Keith started crying, he wouldn't really know /how/ to stop lol
> 
> anyway thanks for reading hope u like it, feel free to shoot me a msg at my tumblr: dontmindme-imafangirl.tumblr.com  
> See ya~


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